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Riffs For Your Spliff: Top 10 Songs For Your New Year’s Eve Pot Party

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 28, 2009 Culture

ocnorml.org

Toke of the Town realizes that many of you are going to get blotto on New Year’s Eve, and there’s no denying that’s the traditional thing to do.

But as Mason Tvert has told us, marijuana is safer. So if you want to have the best time possible this December 31 as you bring in a fresh 2010, maybe you should have a pot party instead of a beer bash.

At the very least, if you must get drunk, smoke pot while doing so. Scientific studies show that marijuana helps protect your brain cells from the damaging effects of bingeing on alcohol.

Towards the goal of reducing the incidence of nasty hangovers, projectile puking, and waking up in bed with people you don’t know, and in the interest of promoting parties that are safer and more fun, here are 10 songs you don’t want to miss when compiling a playlist to bring in the new year in high style.

Study Says 4% Of Adults Use Pot; Cites ‘Major Health Concerns,’ But No Evidence

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 28, 2009 Culture, Global

www.freeclassicimages.com

There are 166 million marijuana users in the world, representing 3.9 percent of Earth’s population between 15 and 64, according to a new study.

The herb is “most used among young people in rich countries,” led by the United States, Australia and New Zealand, followed by Europe, according to the paper, published in medical journal The Lancet on Friday, canada.com reports.

The study’s authors grudgingly admit that marijuana’s impact “is probably modest” compared with the burden from legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco. After all, these are scientists, and they do have to acknowledge those troublesome data.

But the scientists fall all over themselves rushing to warn that “cannabis has a long list of suspected adverse health effects,” dutifully toeing the line that “marijuana is dangerous,” while lacking any convincing evidence to prove that claim.

Christmas Vigil In Seattle Protests Marijuana Laws; Smug Yuppies Object

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 26, 2009 Culture, Legislation, News

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KING5

“Anti-drug advocate”/obnoxiously smug yuppie Steve Danishek spouts ignorance and intolerance on cue for reporter Eric Schudiske

For the past nine years on Christmas Day, 5th Avenue and James Street in Seattle has been at the crossroads of the controversy over marijuana legalization.

As they’ve done every year in the 21st Century, protesters outside King County Jail held a pro-marijuana vigil, maintaining non-violent drug offenders should be home for the holidays, reports Eric Schudiske of King 5 News.

“We just think that otherwise law-abiding Americans should find alternatives to incarceration for marijuana use,” said Vivian McPeak, organizer of the vigil.

McPeak remains optimistic about the prospects for positive change. “We believe very strongly that we’re in the last decade of marijuana criminalization,” he said.

Cops Seize Marijuana Wrapped As Christmas Gifts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 25, 2009 Culture, News

Photo: www.comptonsunshine.com

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…

Sometimes the Grinch wears a badge, man.

Police confiscated around 20 pounds of marijuana from a car this week, some in boxes wrapped as Christmas gifts, according to The Associated Press.

A Highway Patrol spokesman said troopers found the cannabis in a vehicle stopped for speeding on Interstate 44 near Joplin, Missouri.

Two California women in the car unwisely gave troopers permission to search the vehicle.

(Quick tip: Never, ever consent to a search. Make them get a warrant. They won’t “go easier on you” if you give up your rights.)

Both were charged after officers found the 20 pounds of weed, and were actually pretty fortunate to be released on just $1,000 bond Tuesday with only one pot-related count each.

Terminally Ill Cancer Patient Being Evicted For Medical Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 24, 2009 Culture, Medical

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Graphic: Reality Catcher

A terminally ill woman in Michigan is being evicted from her apartment for legally using medical marijuana to treat the painful symptoms of her advanced brain cancer.

Lori Montroy, 49, of Elk Rapids, Mich., is facing eviction by the Gardner Group of Michigan, the company that manages her apartment complex.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is coming to the aid of the woman. The ACLU wrote a letter Tuesday on behalf of Montroy.

“No one deserves to be put out in the cold for legally treating the crippling pain, nausea and weakness caused by brain cancer,” said Dan Korobkin, staff attorney for ACLU of Michigan. “We believe that the landlord’s decision was not motivated by malice but rather a misconception of the law.”

High Hemp Hopes Hammered By Federal Appeals Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 23, 2009 Culture, Growing, Legislation

Photo: www.treehugger.com

Industrial hemp contains almost no THC, and is useless for getting high. It is, however, extremely useful for food, fiber, and fuel.

Two North Dakota farmers who say they should be allowed to grow industrial hemp won’t be allowed to do so anytime soon.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit by the farmers, who received North Dakota’s first state licenses to grow hemp nearly three years ago, reports James MacPherson of The Associated Press.

The men, Wayne Hauge and David Monson, never received required approval from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to grow the crop, which is considered a Schedule I drug under federal law.

The farmers sued the DEA, and their case has been before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a year after U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed it.

Shine On, Stoney: Making Pot Activism Even More Beautiful

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 22, 2009 Culture

Photo Courtesy Stoney McStonerson

Stoney: “You can save yourself a ton of pain if you just SHINE.”

Colorado’s Stoney Haze McStonerson is proof that not only can marijuana activists be intelligent and effective — they can also be quite easy on the eyes.

Stoney is many things, but shy isn’t one of them. A determined and influential ambassador for the movement, McStonerson is president and founder of the Colorado Chapter of American Cannabis.

Stoney’s the girl next door, if the girl next door were a beautiful, intelligent stoner.

“I am proud of my life and the wisdom I have gathered along the way,” Stoney told us. “I learned before most of the people I knew that changing who you really are inside to fit into the ‘normal box’ does not work!

“You can save yourself a ton of pain if you just SHINE,” Stoney said. “Whatever, whoever and however is not going to matter in the end if you are happy.”

Munchies Explained! Research: Marijuana Makes Sweets Taste Sweeter

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 22, 2009 Culture, News

Graphic: randazza.wordpress.com

Dude… sweet. I knew there was something special happening last night when I obliterated those Hostess Cupcakes.

Some interesting research indicates that the active ingredients in marijuana “act directly on taste receptors on the tongue to enhance sweet taste.”

The results show the likely scientific underpinning for the well-known phenomenon of the pot “munchies.”

“Our taste cells may be more involved in regulating our appetites than we had previously known,” said study author Robert Margolskee, M.D., Ph.D., a molecular biologist with the Monell Center.

The Monell Center, based on Philadelphia, collaborated with Kyushu University in Japan on the research, which looked at the effect that endocannabinoids, present in marijuana, have on taste and appetite regulation in mice.

“Endocannabinoids both act in the brain to increase appetite and also modulate taste receptors on the tongue to increase the response to sweets,” said study senior author Yuzo Ninomiya, Ph.D., professor of oral neuroscience in the Graduate School of Dental Sciences and Kyushu University.

Washington State Patrol Ordered To Return 9 Ounces Of Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 22, 2009 Culture, Medical, News

Photo: knoxnews.com

“Make sure it’s all there, man.”

A King County judge has ordered the Washington State Patrol to return nine ounces of medical marijuana to an authorized patient.

During a routine traffic stop, a state trooper smelled Scott Verner’s cannabis, searched his vehicle and seized the medicine, even though Verner showed his medical marijuana paperwork to the officer as required by law.

The trooper told Verner he was allowed to use medical cannabis, but not to transport it by vehicle.

“Congratulations to Cannabis Defense Coalition member Aaron Pelley, the attorney on the Verner case,” said Ben Livingston of the CDC. “Aaron made the news last September after winning the return of over 11 pounds of medical marijuana from the Kent Police.”

This Just In: Teens Who Listen To Pot Music Smoke Pot!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 22, 2009 Culture, News

Island Records [1973]

It’s the latest example of “They needed a scientific study to figure that out?” Displaying a keen grasp of the obvious, a scientific team has “discovered” that teens who listen to music containing references to marijuana are more likely to use the herb than their counterparts with less exposure to such lyrics.

The study, performed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is online now in the journal Addiction.

“Based on an analysis of survey data from 959 ninth-graders, we found that students who listen to music with the most references to marijuana are almost twice as likely to have used the drug than their peers whose musical tastes favor songs less focused on substance use, even after controlling for confounding factors,” said Brian Primack, M.D., Ed.M., M.S. (Damn, with all those letters after his name, he must be right.)

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